Phnom Penh offers to swap prisoners

Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said Phnom Penh insisted that Veera Somkwamkid and Ratree Wiwattanapaibul had to serve a portion of their jail term as stipulated in Cambodian law before being eligible to seek a royal pardon.
Surapong was in Phnom Penh on Wednesday to meet his counterpart Hor Namhong. Topping the agenda was the fate of Veera and Ratree, who were arrested along with other Thais on December 28 last year while inspecting a border area.
The other prisoners were freed after a Cambodian court suspended their jail terms, but Veera and Ratree were sentenced to eight and six years in jail, respectively.
Surapong said he would ask concerned authorities to consider Cambodia’s latest offer, especially since this is the first such offer and Thailand has had no experience of this.
Meanwhile, Veera’s mother, Wilaiwan, met Surapong at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh to ask the minister to help secure her son and Ratree’s freedom.